


Regret

by MadKingEdgar



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Major Endgame Spoilers, Will trigger hardcore Akechi fans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-22 23:00:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10706949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadKingEdgar/pseuds/MadKingEdgar
Summary: Akira has trouble dealing with his failure, and the death of someone he once trusted.





	Regret

The voice that filled his dreams was painful to hear. It was harrowing, almost metallic, yet it felt familiar. This voice wasn't meant to have that tone with him.  
"Allow me to enlighten you..."  
The dreamers breathing grew heavier, sweat dripping down his face in fear.  
"That trivial righteousness that you've paraded around...?"  
Many feelings washed over him. Desperation. Despair. Followed by emptiness...  
"This is how such idiocy ends."  
A click. A gunshot. Something that never happened. That's when he recognised the voice.  
"Oh, am i mistaken? I thought i heard something about delicious pancakes."

The door to Cafe Leblanc burst open, Akira Kurusu stumbling out of it. This wasn't like any regular Sunday morning, though. He was in a hurry, a hurry to clear his head from these painful thoughts. Not focusing on the path ahead of him, the boy racked his brain for a place he could feel safe, away from the busy streets of Tokyo. Inokashira Park would have to do. He needed to rid himself of these harmful thoughts.

-  
Ryuji: Dude, where you at?  
Ann: You do remember what we had planned, right?  
Futaba: You even left Mona behind. You okay?  
-

Akira ignored the constant buzzing of his phone as he idly watched the water. His own incompetence was at fault here. He was capable of many things, he had the power of the wild card, he was a phantom thief, he even saved the world. But every time he failed it made the constant applause he got more undeserved. He couldn't, despite all of his great deeds, work miracles.  
It now seemed like every day that somebody praised Akira. He gave Ryuji a place to belong. He joined Ann on a search for strength and motivation. He gave Futaba her life back. So many saw him as a saviour, as a problem solver. But he was the one who made everything worse.

-  
Makoto: You haven't been answering our calls or messages, Akira. Please tell us you're okay.  
-

There was once a boy who, being the illegitimate child of a politician, was tossed around and used. A boy who was misguided to the point of committing unforgivable acts in the pursuit of justice and vengeance. He forever searched for a place to belong, and he never found it. A boy who was willing to do anything to further his mission, blessed with the power of the wild card in a rigged game. A boy whose own father used him as a stepping stone on the path to political power. This boy longed for friendship and belonging more than anything else, but it seemed his two missions clashed, and it broke him.

"Teammates!? Friends!? To hell with that!"  
The traitor, Goro Akechi, the boy who wanted to belong, the second coming of the detective prince, had been defeated by the Phantom Thieves. His eyes full of desperation, he looked up at his enemies, at his only friends.  
"Why am i inferior to you?... I was extremely particular about my life, my grades, my public image, so somebody would want me around!"  
Akechi smiled widely.  
"I am an ace detective... a celebrity!" His eyes now focused on Joker, the leader of the Phantom Thieves, the one who had alluded him and escaped death, the one with friends.  
"But you... you're just some criminal trash living in an attic! So how...!? How does someone like you have things i don't!? How can such a worthless piece of trash be more special than me!?"

Joker was at a loss for words. He stepped forward. "You need to stop." Infuriated by the leaders words, Akechi frowned.  
"This argument is meaningless." Then came the truth. The traitor of the Phantom Thieves was the one behind every single mental shutdown case. Using the power of the meta verse, he used his gift to rise up and become an ace detective. His entire career was basically a sham. All of it was a ruse to get Masayoshi Shido to understand what he had done.  
"But you're right. I don't give a damn about Shido's acknowledgment! All i care about now is killing all of you...! To prove that I'm better than you!" The team stood back, ready for whatever assault the detective was planning. "Here... I'll show you who I really am." Akechi's power took shape and all of the lies finally ended. Loki, Goro's true persona, was unleashed. "Now! Let's see you drop dead one at a time, in front of your precious friends!"

The battle didn't last long. Already weakened, Akechi was no match for the Phantom Thieves he had once fought alongside. He fell to his knees, holding back tears of pain and despair. He was finished. It was surely over.

Akira sat at the park bench, recalling those events for the thousandth time since they happened. He could've changed the outcome, had he been the saviour his friends saw him as. Had he not been filled with hatred for the detective boy. He could have easily been in a similar position. Chosen in this game, forsaken by everyone he had known. He was lucky, lucky he had friends like Ann and Ryuji, people he could trust. Goro couldn't trust anybody in the end, not even himself.

"Let's make a deal... You won't say no, will you!?" The desperation in his enemy's voice filled Joker with sorrow. Beyond that metal wall, there was a human being in the same situation he had been in. Lost, alone, looking for a place to belong. "Change Shido's heart in my stead! End his crimes. Please!" The team were at a loss. The turn of events had left them speechless. All but Joker were silent.  
"I promise."

Goro Akechi turned to his cognitive self. The version of him that was used by Shido. The one who was set to destroy him. "So... my final enemy is a puppet version of my self..." He cocked his gun and smiled meekly. A girls voice sounded from the other side of the wall. "Not bad."

And those were the final words Akechi ever spoke.

Akira sighed. It was now evening, and his phone had only just stopped buzzing. He sat alone, at the park bench, and let a tear roll down his cheek. He had failed in saving Akechi. Give it time, and he would accept this and move on. But now, there was just the lingering feeling of regret, and the hatred for the man Goro became. The man that was tainted by his father, the man who murdered Principal Kobayakawa and Kunikazu Okumura, the man responsible for the countless mental shutdowns that happened just to achieve his goal, the man who likely had a hand in Wakaba Ishiki's death.  
"Unforgivable" Akira muttered, slamming his fist into the wood of the bench.

"Akira! I found you!" A familiar voice called to him, but he didn't turn his head, he just closed his eyes. Futaba Sakura sat at the bench, placing her hand on his knee. "Are you okay? Why weren't you answering your phone? Why didn't you tell anybody you were okay?" Akira opened his eyes to see the sunset, orange and captivating.  
"I'm sorry." He said softly, smiling at the girl.  
"It's okay. I was just.... worried about you." She wrapped her arms around him, her head resting on his chest. "Tell me what's wrong. I'm here for you."  
"I've been having these dreams, these thoughts." He began, before shaking his head. "But it doesn't matter anymore. I can't blame myself for things that have happened. I can't let myself feel sorry for a murderer. This is how such idiocy ends."  
Futaba remained silent. The two sat there, basking in the beauty of the sunset, the beauty of the world they saved, together.

There was no point in feeling regret.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Rip


End file.
